Pelican Elite Coolers With Wheels

Took it camping, and much to my dismay, the ice melted after the first night out on the campsite. When I returned home and emptied the cooler, I closed the top, then applied airflow to the drain opening. The reason the ice melted so quickly was because the top does not seal completely, and lets air in, as I discovered when air flowed freely out. Pelican claims this is not defective, thus, it is a design flaw. Disappointing, since I wanted USA made one. The search continues….

These things are not cheap to be sure, but I wanted something that would hold up for several days at a time without replenishing the ice. This cooler from Pelican definitely handles that request. The skinny:
1) held ice and keep things frosty in 90F+ temps for 4+ days. Temperature in the cooler never rose above 36. We opened it about 4x a day on average but never for very long. We topped off with 1 more 1/2 bag of ice late on day 4 but it could have gone even longer.
2) holds a lot with still room for your ice; we had: 8 small tetra-pak smoothies, 2lbs of carrots, 12 bottles of Mexican coke, 14 cans of beer, some medication, 6 cups of yogurt (individual), qt. sized zip-lock of sliced turkey, 8 pudding cups, & 3 cycling water bottles and two pints of hummus.
3) the wheels are a big help as this cooler is heavy (+/- 40 lbs) even before you load it up. Plan on two people to lift in and out of the vehicle when full.
4) sturdy as can be. Stand on it, sit on it, cut on it, drop it, etc. It will handle it all with only minor nicks
5) the latch system works well and is easy on everyone’s fingers

The “bad”, tho not really bad:
1) weight, see above. The wheels make this manageable though and they roll over grass, gravel and even sand with ease, but plan on two people to lift it once you fill it up.
2) the drain valve on ours leaked at first (not sweating but an actual leak.) However, with some rubber-handled channel locks you can use the handle of your pliers to slot into the notches on the drain plug and give it some extra torque without damaging the plastic cap. This worked fine and never had a leak after that.
3) the pull handle is, to my taste, a little short for long-legged strider, like me; it occasionally clips your leg when pulling it. However, the wheels roll well enough and the handle is sturdy enough, that you can push it instead which I found easier.
4) bulky–this is not small cooler, plan on it taking up a lot of space in your car or back of your SUV–think medium sized pet kennel

I recommend this cooler whole heartedly if you take the above factors into account!

I just received this cooler and as of yet I have not used it and I will provide a review(s) when I start using it. However I can comment on the fact that the quality came as advertised as I have several Pelican cases for optics and firearms, these cases I trust to protect my gear.

Perfect and holds ice super long. Longer than a yeti

This cooler is amazing and everything is crafted for very heavy use that should last a lifetime. I do feel there needs to be better design consideration with this though as it takes up a ton of space! That’s to be expected I’m sure, but it total it has 9 inches just for both handles. The cooler fit where I needed it but the additional width the handles added put it over. I am disappointed to have to return it cause I can tell everything about this thing is meant to keep contents cool and last forever!

UPDATE 21-May-2021

REVIEW

This cooler doesn’t fit in any car trunk, so I purchased a Yeti 45 to replace it. I thought I’d do the ice test with both of them to see how they compare. For the huge size of this cooler – it looks like you gain maybe half a day of ice retention.

I measured the actual internal capacity of this with water. It can hold about 35-26 liters of water and still have the lid close (but also has a little lift in the lid that would allow a bit of extra dry space over the Yeti). For comparison, the Yeti 45 measured in at exactly 32 liters .

New Pros
* 10.5 day ice retention seems great, especially in a compact size.
* Solid: doubles as a seat, step stool, etc.
* My favourite cooler lid closures by far.

Cons
* Price.
* Such a beast, doesn’t fit in any car trunk at any time for any reason. Well, at least not a 2004 Civic Sedan or a 2015 Kia Optima! 🙂

THE TEST

I wanted to know how long this cooler will keep ice before I did a review, but I didn’t want to wait for next summer, so I set up another indoor test.

Test conditions:
* 23 degrees Celcius for ~12 hours a day and 18-23 degrees Celcius for the other 12.
* Lid opened briefly once a day at the same time to check ice level.
* Cooler pre-cooled with icepacks for one hour before starting.
* Cooler filled to the top with large ice cubes (you know: the kind your grandma/great-grandma made manually in the freezer trays), these cubes are much larger than store bought cubes and will last longer as a result.

Test Result:
Still had a little ice after 10 days and a couple cubes left in the cold water was all that remained on day 11. So I give this cooler 10.5 days, since usually the coolers have a fair float of ice on the last day.

I don’t like other tests where they “simulate real world useage” by opening the cooler multiple times a day and digging around in it. I want to know how long a cooler keeps ice, not how long ice takes to melt in a cooler that is open…so I kept opening to a minimum. I know the cooler will keep for a shorter time if I’m opening it and keeping food in it instead of solid ice, but that isn’ the point.

See pictures for the start of the test and the various milestones (Starting, two days, six days, eight days, and 10 days).

ORIGINAL REVIEW

We bought this as our drink cooler to supplement our food cooler (an Igloo Yukon 70). I haven’t used this for a trip yet, so here are my initial thoughts. I’ll try to come back to update after I’ve used it. If is retention is good, I’ll leave this at five stars, otherwise it will drop.

Pros
– 10 day, should save us money on ice.
– Built like a truck, with no visible flaws.
– Love the closures; easy one handed use.
– Solid molded handles are always nice.
– Very straight sides, will avoid more fitting at the top than the bottom.
– Big enough to hold two gallons of milk and a number of other drinks with our ice.
– Wheels don’t expand the footprint of the cooler much. Last cooler with wheels needed 10% more space just for the wheels.
Neutral
– Wish I could have gotten one without wheels.
Cons
– As with all coolers of this type, this is heavy.
– This cooler is huge! The outside dimensions equals or exceeds my Igloo Yukon 70 liter in but one direction – height. The price you pay for 10 days versus 5.
– Handle for dragging on the wheels seems just okay.

I was looking for something to keep food fresh at my camp where I live most of the time. I looked into refrigeration and all other options. For the price and my circumstances, I decided a good cooler was the best way to go. I determined that I wanted a cooler on wheels, with a sturdy handle, latching closure, and long term cooling retention. This fits the bill! As they explain in their accompanying paperwork, to get the longest cooling effect you have to follow certain guidelines such as filling the thing with ice rather than have empty air space, and other things. You’re not going to get 7-10 days of coolness without following all the guidelines, but I’m very happy with it and it serves my needs well. It’s not light, especially with ice blocks in it, (but I am a strong 52 year old woman). I was able to lift it into my truck bed without too much difficulty.